Love Looms In Times Of War

Chapter 12

Backlash
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Pressed hard against a dark alley's wall a man and a woman kissed. Her hands were tangled in his hair while his roamed the sides of her body. The orderly bun on top of her head came undone, letting strands of blond hair fall onto her and his shoulders.

Tired of the cold surface behind her, Grace Hopkins placed her hands on the strong chest in front of her. She pushed its owner aside just enough to pin him to the wall instead of her. "Your turn, commander," she said. Her lips caressed his earlobe on their path down to his mouth. She kissed him hard.

Despite her roughness, her lips were soft. Scott's thoughts wandered, tripping on the memory of the lips of another... softer, gentle, shy. Glimpses of pale skin and brown eyes followed... Ariel...

The moment he saw Uld and her kissing, Scott finally lost it. The emotional walls he had surrounded himself with collapsed under the weight of battle, his parents and sister, and his undefined -or nonexistent- relationship with Ariel. Deep inside, he had always dreaded the moment when she moved on. Jealousy and rational thought clashed, the former claiming victory last. He hated that bastard Uld with all his being. Eager to numb himself against the pain of Ariel's betrayal, he deepened the kiss.

How he had ended there with Grace, Scott didn't remember and didn't particularly care. Incredulity and shock had taken hold of him and pushed him hastily away from the sight of Ariel in Uld's arms. Erased by an anger fueled haze, his recollection of aimlessly wandering Mars Base's tunnels was fuzzy at most. A pair of green eyes beckoned him out of his trance. They were care-filled eyes; or was it lust what shone in them? The woman he now held had looked at him full of concern and want. She offered comfort and he took it.

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Myriad images bombarded the eyes of Dr. Karl Reed. Diagrams of waves and multidimensional representations of their formulas were depicted on most of them.

His fingers pushed keys on his terminal frenetically. He needed to find knowledge buried under petabites of data. How to make a deflector for a wave of such magnitude? What in the universe can I use? Reed remembered the Tamron wave-problem had been solved before... theoretically. Its impractical application never granted an actual field test. The whole treaty had fallen into obscurity after more than fifty years. I need Dr. Tamron's notes. If only I could remember where to look... If only... Damn! if only those Nichol's cyber implants had ever worked... her mused. I'd have plugged myself and boom! Done hunting for needles in haystacks... Damn you Tamron and damn you Nichols! "To hell all waves!" he added for good measure.

"Sorry, Dr. Reed?" said one of his assistants, "did you say something?"

Reed turned in his chair, unaware of having spoken that last part aloud. "No... Robert. It was nothing," he replied. The assistant nodded and went back to his assigned task.

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No one spoke. In lieu of words, the clatter of pilots getting into their respective armor filled the space. Invid and human alike worked in silence, their minds rather absorbed by menial, ordinary tasks than by the enormity of the looming final battle.

Unlike her comrades, a certain Invid couldn't help but dwell on subjects of a completely different nature. Two males to be precise: Scott, who she loved while his feelings, unfortunately, belonged to someone else, and Uld, who loved her , or at least desired to learn all about that emotion with and from her. Not wanting it, Ariel's mind conjured possible scenarios of a romantic relationship with her wing mate. She shivered, unprepared for what turned up. It had always been Scott in her dreams, no one else.

A buckle fell out from the Invid's unsteady grasp. What is it with me? Ariel couldn't help but think that her latest synchronization period hadn't fully worked. I'm just nervous... she told herself. Patiently, she held the contraption anew and directed it towards its counterpart on her armor. Her trembling fingers proved a hindrance as, once more, the hook failed to latch, causing the whole leg piece to fall to the floor noisily.

Please don't look at me, please don't look at me... she repeated inwardly but could feel eyes on her. She didn't dare look back, not wanting to meet anyone's gaze, Uld's in particular. After he kissed her, she left him without saying a word. Her cheeks warmed up at the thought of what she had picked up from his mind.

She saw the fallen armor piece, sighed, annoyed at her own incompetence, and leaned down to recover it.

"Let me help you with that," Uld, always opportune, said and promptly helped the nervous Invid to latch the armor in place. Just what I needed, Ariel thought anxiously, said nothing and shook harder. He was too close to her as they finished. She saw his questioning expression, but before she could think of something suitable to say, or most likely stutter, someone beat her to it.

"You'd think the human scientists would have made these things easier to get into..." Koreen's voice sounded sweeter than ever to one grateful Ariel, who didn't waste time at creating a little distance between herself and a certain male. The relief was short lived, however, as alarms erupted throughout the base and a new wave of pilots rushed into the room. Scott was among them.

As always, when two people are intent on avoiding each other, Scott and Ariel's eyes were bound to meet. She didn't want to look at him and quickly fixed her gaze on the floor. Accordingly, he looked elsewhere as rapidly as possible; yet, he couldn't help but looking back at once when his brain acknowledged the male standing next to her. Jealousy bit deeply.To worsen matters, Uld, sensing a wave of uneasiness rising from Ariel, decided to close the gap she had wedged between them.

That son of a... thought Commander Bernard, not ready for Uld's next move. The alien pilot placed his arm around Ariel's waist. The object of Uld's affectionate grip, in the meantime, was at a loss. She faced her unexpected guardian angel and blinked, stunned.

From Scott's colored perspective, her confused eyes appeared adoring. It hurt; he had to look away. Pain turned into anger and then hate, hate against everything and everyone, above all, himself. He realized that he truly loved her, and he alone had pushed her away.

As if the already tense atmosphere needed further strain due to bad timing, a brooding blue-haired commander was caught unaware by a pretty blond, who placed her arms around him. "Please take care of yourself," she said into his ear, giving him a quick and unexpected kiss. She was gone as quickly as she had appeared; the damage was done, nevertheless.

Scott caught a glimpse of Ariel's back. His sight followed her as she moved toward her mecha. Uld trailed closely behind. However unfair, the human couldn't help but loathe the Invid who now had what he foolishly rejected.

"All pilots to shadow fighters," a synthetic voice boomed. Aching, Scott finished adjusting his armor, donned his helmet and climbed into his alpha.

"Prepare for launch in bays four, six, eight..." the voice continued while the commander tested his instruments. With all in order, he lead the Raiders toward their place in the launching queue.

A cold sensation set into Scott's veins as the countdown ran to its end. "Launch in T minus 5 seconds..." Inertial forces pushed him when his Alpha darted into battle-infested space.

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Lisa followed the movements of the forces on her screen. Those colors... They are under General Grant, she realized. Judging by the attack's timing, Vince had gotten Max's message. Thanks God you didn't give up on us, old friend, she thought.

Anticipating the alien mothership's approach, Lisa had ordered all non-essential power to be diverted to the main canon. It was a risky move as it implied leaving the fortress' surface more vulnerable. The giant monster was now in visual range, yet the speed of its approach had diminished considerably. Vince was buying the stranded ship more time.

Lisa observed that, in spite of having lost at first, Grant's squadrons were attacking more successfully now. It seems as if they are capable of predicting the movements of the enemy, she mused.

Suddenly explosions shook Admiral Hayes Hunter's bridge. A group of nasty alien crafts decided to go suicidal against the SDF-3's armored deck; they crashed and exploded, their flaming fragments speed away, barely missing the control tower.

The lights went off for a few seconds, panic invaded the room. "Status?" Lisa inquired once she had steadied herself against her command post.

"Decks five, seven, nine and 13 suffered integrity breaches," informed her first officer. "Repair crews are scrambling, Admiral," he continued as raw reports reached his station.

"Miriya, what's the situation down there?"

"We don't have enough personnel to fix the damage before it compromises the ship's integrity, Admiral."

"Dr. Einsler," Lisa opened an audio channel with the scientist. "Can we seal some of the affected areas?"

"Yes, Admiral, it can be done for most of them."

"Work with Miriya, doctor. I need this ship to hold for as much time as we can get." The doctor nodded. Hold on for me, she asked of her ship. Help is on its way ... hold on for my crew and my family.

The battle fortress would have complied, if it wasn't for another wave of crashing drones. The ship rocked violently and commotion took hold of an emergency-lit bridge.

"Decks two and three received direct hits!" cried the first officer.

The med bay! Lisa thought , horrified. Oh Rick!

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Posted on: 2006-03-10

• Just Go
• Letters
• Skirmish
• Meeting
• Contrition
• Secrets
• Family Ties
• Timing
• Pressure
• First Wave
• Caught
• Backlash
• Battle
• Choice
• Rescue
• Aftermath
• Losses
• Goodbye
• Awakening